Golden weekend for Longford athletes at National and International competition

There were great successes for Longford athletes last weekend beginning in Wales on Saturday at the Schools International four nations event. Mercy Ballymahon pupil Robin Óg Murphy had earned selection on the Irish team following recent excellent showings including victory at the All-Ireland Schools Championships.

Robin Óg lined up in the 3km Walk event and went on to produce another strong performance, improving her personal best by 22 seconds in the process, to take the win with Cork’s Aoife Martin in second place for an Irish one-two.

Following a delayed trip home on Saturday night, and barely four hours sleep, Robin Óg was back in action on Sunday morning at the National Juvenile Championships in Tullamore.

 Again, it was the 3km Walk and again another dominant display to claim a second Gold medal of the weekend. Showing no signs of fatigue, Robin Óg led the race from the off and held the position throughout, maintaining good technique to ensure a second National title of what has been a fantastic track season for her.

Longford Athletic Club’s medal successes in Tullamore had begun on Saturday when the Under-13 4 x 100m relay team of Paul Aigbogun, El’Nathan Okoh, Adam Mulleady and Andrew Fitzpatrick won Gold with a brilliant performance. The quartet had set a personal best 53.71 seconds to win their heat. 

45 minutes later, and in worsening weather conditions, the boys lined up in the final. Despite the rain, the baton changeovers were executed perfectly with all four showing great speed. 

Andrew, running the anchor leg, had the task of securing the Gold when crossing the finish line in first place. A great achievement by the team to win successive National outdoor relay titles having won Gold at the Under-12’s last year.

Following Robin’s Óg victory on Sunday, a further gold medal in the Walks was achieved by Conor Brennan who took first place in the U-14 2km. An assured display from Conor who led from start to finish.

There was further success when Emily Oge Nnachi won Silver in the Under-12 Long Jump held as part of Saturday’s National B Championships. A brilliant opening jump of 3.80m secured Emily the medal and she almost took gold as she was only one centimetre off first place in a very close competition.

Longford athletes took part in different track events over the weekend, and with some personal bests set and finals reached, there were further strong performances by Julie Taitt (600m), Seán Grealy (100m), Holly Rogers (100m), Emma Brennan (3000m) and El’Nathan Okoh (80m).